Before the challenge, ALS was known to much fewer people. But things changed after the challenge, and it was everywhere on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, news, events, etc. The reason was the visibility created by the campaign. You need to create awareness about your brand through various marketing channels. People will prefer to buy from you only if they know about you.

Although it would be nice to earn little bit of extra income without putting in any effort, you’re going to have to put in some effort at the beginning. First, you must be clear about why you want to earn passive income. Is it that you want to support your existing lavish shopping? Is it that you feel uncertain about the future and want to have alternative sources of income? Are you finding it hard to earn enough regular income to support your family and yourself, therefore you need extra passive income?
Build a list in a particular niche and tell them stories. Create a bond. Build a relationship with them. It's important. Then, when you've created a bit of culture, start marketing affiliate products or services to them that you think they might like. Just be sure that you personally vet out whatever it is that you're selling to avoid complaints if the product or service falls short.
And while real estate is an excellent option, it does require a significant initial investment, so whether or not this passive income stream is right for you depends on your current financial situation. You might be better off starting with an investment strategy where you can build funds until you have a big enough sum to get involved in real estate.
Whether you choose to invest in just one of these modern REITs or both, keep in mind that since they’re private funds and not stocks, you won’t be able to easily liquidate your investment and access your cash right away. Depending on your investment, plan to see your money tied up for anywhere from six months to five years. However, you’ll most likely still receive monthly or quarterly payments, depending on which investment opportunity you select.
If you are successful in creating a viral model with very short cycle times, watch out for what can happen. Several companies that have been lucky enough to achieve this have been shocked by the enormous need to scale server capacity. Fortunately with cloud computing offerings such as Amazon EC2 and S3, it is easier than in the past to scale on demand.
You might not think of paying down debt as an income-generating activity, but it kind of is. Think of it this way: If you owe $10,000 and are paying 20% interest on it, that's $2,000 in interest payments annually. Ouch. Pay off that $10,000, though, and you'll be keeping that $2,000 in your pocket. It's very much like earning a guaranteed 20% return on the debt that you retire, and 20% annual returns are way more than you can expect from the stock market or elsewhere. Note that some credit cards may be charging you 25% or even 30% interest, so paying such debt off as soon as possible is a no-brainer financial goal.
Risk: The tricky part is choosing the right stocks. Graves warns that too many novices jump into the market without thoroughly investigating the company issuing the stock. “You’ve got to investigate each company’s website and be comfortable with their financial statements,” Graves says. “You should spend two to three weeks investigating each company.”
Since publishing this post, I created a SlideShare presentation that has a several additional ideas on viral marketing: The Science behind Viral Marketing. Also check out Andrew Chen’s blog, as he has written extensively on the subject of Viral Growth. For example, here is one great example: What’s your viral loop? Understanding the engine of adoption.
We pitched to an angel investor group. They were very excited about the idea but wanted to know who amongst us (doctor, accountant, salesman) was doing the coding. When they heard we were outsourcing it, the wind went out of their sails immediately. They did want to meet with us again once we brought a coder on board but that person proved elusive to find. Coders in our area are looking for the steady paycheck, not willing to gamble on a startup.

Where blogging requires frequent, less-lengthy content, a book can be something you work on for months at a time and publish it for sale. And it can become more than just passive income. In fact, UK author Mark Dawson makes close to half a million dollars a year from self-publishing his books. On a smaller scale, Joseph Hogue makes about $2,000 per month writing and self-publishing financial books. If these guys can do it, anyone can.

Procter & Gamble did not offer any discounts or ask buyers to buy Old Spice, it just gave a suggestion and managed to catch the attention of consumers through the ad. Buyers might buy the Old Spice body wash without consciously realizing why they did so! The lesson is to be creative. Use social media channel to foster brand loyalty in an altogether new way.

One of the best ways to build wealth is to get a handle on your finances by signing up with Personal Capital. They are a free online platform which aggregates all your financial accounts on their Dashboard so you can see where you can optimize. Before Personal Capital, I had to log into eight different systems to track 28 different accounts (brokerage, multiple banks, 401K, etc) to track my finances. Now, I can just log into Personal Capital to see how my stock accounts are doing, how my net worth is progressing, and where my spending is going.

5) Determine What Income Level Will Make You Happy. Think back to when you made little to no income as a student. Now think back to the days when you just got started in your career. Were you happy then? Now go over every single year you got a raise or made more money doing something else. How did your happiness change at all, if any? Everybody has a different level of income that will bring maximum happiness due to different desires, needs, and living arrangements. It’s up to you to find out your optimum income level.

The first thing that we need to calculate is the number of new customers that each existing customer is able to successfully convert. This turns out to be an extremely important variable, and is known as the Viral Coefficient. The formula to calculate the viral coefficient is pretty simple: multiply the number of invitations by the conversion rate.

Crowdfunding, the process of pooling dollars from a large population of people to fund a larger project, has significantly increased in volume over the past several years. According to Statista, $34.4 billion was raised in the United States through crowdfunding in 2015. In 2012, this number was $2.7 billion. That number continues to trend upward as new crowdfunding options become available.

Our spending and saving habits develop over time, and it is because of this reason that they are often hard to change. Economists use a phrase called “propensity to consume,” which suggests how much of additional portion of $1 earned will be consumed by us. For example, if I earn an additional $100 a day and spend 90% of this $100, my propensity to consume will be 0.9, which is often considered a high number. We often fail to change our propensity to consume because our spending patterns are deeply rooted into our psyche.
This was a great move for Dove who had become very quiet in the marketplace in the years beforehand. They were able to realign their brand to be all encompassing and to suit young and old women alike. The emotional undertone to the campaign made is hit hard with women no matter what their social standing, religious beliefs, etc. If you plan to carry out a viral marketing campaign similar to this example be careful not to inadvertently distance yourself from certain social groups by appearing too up market or shabby.
If an investor puts $500,000 into a candy store with the agreement that the owners would pay the investor a percentage of earnings, that would be considered passive income as long as the investor does not participate in the operation of the business in any meaningful way other than placing the investment. The IRS states, however, that if the investor did help manage the company with the owners, the investor's income could be seen as active since the investor provided "material participation."
He is the owner of jeffbullas.com. Forbes calls him a top influencer of Chief Marketing Officers and the world's top social marketing talent. Entrepreneur lists him among 50 online marketing influencers to watch. Inc.com has him on the list of 20 digital marketing experts to follow on Twitter. Oanalytica named him #1 Global Content Marketing Influencer. BizHUMM ranks him as the world's #1 business blogger. Learn More
The Blair Witch Project marketing campaign used a website designed to convince people that the horror/mystery scenario of the movie was an actual missing persons case. Myrick and Sanchez also visited online message boards to spread rumors about the mystery. The campaign was so successful that many people still believed the movie depicted actual events by the time it was released in theaters.
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Your articles are so in-depth and helpful, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I am a 22-yr old finishing my last semester of college, studying Computer Science and Psychology. I’m in a really good place with my finances (2k savings, no student debt, only expenses essentially rent, groceries, and utilities) and I want to get ahead financially so I can pay my parents back and save up a lot.

Do you think it’s possible to build a blog from scratch, outsourcing the work from day one (assuming I have some cash that can cover the initial expenses until the blog generates enough income to at least break even)? In other words, do you think you could you have spent your $500 max per month for the writer, social media expert, etc to build your blog to the point it’s earning the same amount of money it does now?

While stocks are terrific income producers, they can be volatile. Every few years, the stock market tends to stagnate or drop for a while before recovering, and that can be problematic if you were counting on your stocks having a certain value at a certain time. One way to lock in an income stream is by buying a fixed annuity (as opposed to variable or indexed annuities, which can have steep fees and overly restrictive terms). Annuity contracts will be more generous when interest rates are higher, but here's how much income they might deliver at recent rates:

This campaign is a great viral marketing example of where the benefits must outweigh the cost as those against Nike’s messaging started to post videos of them destroying their branded apparel and refusing to support the company again. If you are planning on taking a side within your viral marketing campaign make sure you measure the benefits and costs as it could involve you losing customers and ultimate money in the long run.
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Blogging is still going to take work starting out. That path to $5,000 a month didn’t happen overnight but just like real estate development, it build up an asset that now creates constant cash flow whether I work or not. I get over 30,000 visitors a month from Google search rankings, rankings that will continue to send traffic even if I take a little time off.
To make the Viral Cycle Time as short as possible, we can apply the same thought process that we use in Building a Sales and Marketing Machine, where we look at what are the customers motivations and negative reactions as they flow through the viral cycle. For example, when I reach the stage where I have to enter my friends addresses, I will not bother to do very many if I have to look them up in another program, and copy and paste them one-by-one into the browser. You can solve this problem by providing me with Facebook Connect integration to invite my Facebook friends, and an adapter to import my email contacts. (Check out the “Share This” button on the left side of this post as an example of how this can be done.) Getting at email contacts is easy with web mail clients like GMail, etc. – but harder with Outlook. However viral products like LinkedIn have created Outlook adapters that you can download. It is also feasible to get at that information via Outlook Web Access (OWA) provided you can deal with the security concerns.You should also be looking for ways to encourage customers to invite people at various junctures in their use of the application. And of course, you should be asking yourself the question: is the value proposition of your product really that compelling that your customers will want to share it with others? Another great way to increase virality is to incent customers with a reward for every customer they successfully convert. Since this can result in an individual feeling guilty that they are making money off their friends, the best way to do this is to also provide the friend that is receiving the invitation with an equal incentive. Now your customer will feel like they are doing their friends a favor.
When I purchase an existing online business, I look for cash flow over the past year and where the money comes from. I want the sources to be more passive so that it does not take a lot of my time. Also, typically I will make an offer that is 18 – 24 months of profit so that I know that I will get my money back within the next two years. I hope that helps!
Venture debt ($12,240 a year): The first venture-debt fund has returned almost all my initial capital, so I decided to invest $200,000 in the second fund. I took a risk investing $150,000 in my friend's first fund, so I'm hoping there's less risk in the second fund, given he has four more years of experience on top of his 12-plus years of experience running a venture-debt portfolio for another company.
Wow! What an awesome list! My favorite is the stock photography because I love photography. I have had some success there, particularly with one photo I make some decent income from. I think the key with stock photography is finding a shot that is high demand. Then, find a new unique way to frame that shot. This is the reason my St. Louis Arch photo is a top 10 on both ShutterStock and iStockPhoto. Thanks for the awesome ideas above!
There are many comments about it being impossible to break into real estate with little money, or needing help from the bank of mommy and daddy. It is possible. I bought my first property, a multifamily, 6 months after graduating college, with a garbage job I got 3 months before and barely 7k in the bank. It’s now two years later and I’ve purchased a second this summer. Regarding management, I self-manage like most ‘small time’ landlords. Unless you own a massive apartment buidling, there’s no need to professional managment. Like another comment mentioned, I’ve only ever gotten heating issues or other minor things, for which I have a handyman to take care of. Aside from that, it’s fairly passive IMO. Dividend investing doesn’t require 100k either. It’s just an example the author used. I invest un securities with dividends ranging from 2-12%, and hedge/balance according to risk. Higher dividend % isn’t always better, but there are some good deals you can find. I think the key is to realize that you don’t need to stick to just one form of passive investment. Sure, 10 properties sounds daunting, and a $1M portfolio seems impossible, but you can combine both, as well as other passive income strategies. And ofc, the more risk you are willing to take on, the higher the potential reward (and loss). I day/swing trade, but wouldn’t advise this. It’s also not passive, I spend a massive amount of time researching and analyzing the technicals, but it’s worth it for now, as I’m fairly consistnet with profits. I have not tried blogging, and am not sure I’d be any good at it. I dabbled in ecommerce but found it was too time consuimg, but I know people who were able to quit their 9-5s from ecommerce. I’m sure no matter how much debt you have (i have 30k unsecured debt) or how little you think you make, there is a way to start investing today, even if it’s starting small.

While it is important to find something that you love to do and turn it into a money making business, you do have to be cognizant of the return as you pointed out. There are many opportunities that I found and tried out that at the time seemed great. But when I took a step back, I realized that I was working a lot for very little income whereas other things I love doing brought in much more money.

But, you don't need to go further than that. You can simply write it and publish it and collect the income. That's all. Send out a couple emails to your list (if you have one) or post it on social media, and there you have it. Passive income. Now, the amount of income you receive depends on the quality of the book you've written. How well did you craft the message? How targeted was the information to your audience? It counts.

As an struggling young Engineer (back in the Carter era) I bought anything I could renovate then rent to justify paying the 18% interest. I never took vacations but worked on my properties all in the pursuit of passive income. I drove junk for many years & many months I just got by on credit cards. My friends & colleagues were amused by my ‘stupidity’ but most are still working to make enough for retirement.
2. Focus on income-producing assets. Internet growth stocks may be sexy, but they provide no income. To build a large enough passive-income stream to survive, you must invest in dividend-generating stocks, certificates of deposit, municipal bonds, government Treasury bonds, corporate bonds, and real estate. You're free to invest in non-income-producing assets for capital appreciation too. You just want to earn reliable income when the day comes to leave your job.
Ebooks are one of my favorite sources of passive income. Now, you can do this the simple way and just publish it on Amazon's KDP. Or, you can go all out and build yourself a book funnel. Book funnels are powerful, but they won't be fully passive. For example, if you do a free-plus-shipping offer for your ebook (converting it into a physical book), you'll need to create some one-time offers (i.e. extra training) and up-sells (i.e. an audiobook). But, a book funnel can be very powerful.
If you have decent writing skills you can start a retainer writer business. Mastering your pitch will put you in a position where you can land awesome writing gigs. You can then complete the work yourself as you establish yourself in this space, and from there, the sky is the limit. Outsourcing is key to creating a passive income stream from this idea.
The list of passive income ideas could go on forever. As you search for the best fit, keep an eye out for ideas that show positive long-term track records. Do other people make money on the idea? Has it come back to bite someone who tried it? Some people ask me about passive income options like drink, vending, or other rental machines in public places. The bottom line? Don’t fall for any passive income ideas that promise a quick return or require huge amounts of money upfront. They will sabotage your other financial goals. Look for ideas that are steady, profitable, and trustworthy. Do your research. And never go into debt!
Given the growth in the sharing economy, your junk can start to pay for itself. For example, if you have some awesome vintage furniture inherited from your grandmother sitting in a storage unit, you can rent this out to photographers for their “styled shoots” which are becoming all the rage. If your furniture is more modern but you still can’t bear to get rid of it – perhaps a home stager will be interested.
I need to create a passive income stream that has a definable risk profile.I have $250k cash as a safety net in my savings account getting a measily 40 bps but I am somewhat ok with this as it is Not at risk or fluctuation (walk street is tougher nowadays). i have 270k in equity in my house, thinking of paying off the mortgage but probably does make sense since my rate is 3.125 on a 30 yr. I have 275k in my 401(k) and another 45k in a brokerage account that is invested in stocks that pay dividends.
Instagram, also owned by Facebook, may use similar algorithms to determine the types of trending content appearing in a user’s news feed or Explore tab in the Instagram app. Smaller businesses appear to have a better ability to trend on Instagram using viral content compared to Facebook, although publishers and individuals may begin to take the lead there as well.
Who doesn’t like some down and dirty affiliate fees?! Especially if you realize it can be even easier to make money this way than with an ebook. After all, you simply need to concentrate on pumping out some content for your own site and getting the traffic in, often via Google or social media. Unsurprisingly, most people can enjoy their first affiliate sale within 30 days of starting a blog. Continue reading >
I’ve been researching a path to financial independence, and the wealth of knowledge here is amazing, but at times overwhelming. I’m honestly not quite sure where to start. Whether it be paying off debt (which I’ve always heard is priority 1), or sinking money into realtyshares or CDs for growth. I’d love to generate a passive income (in a few years time) to supplement some of my day job to have time to spend with my little one during her golden childhood years, but not sure if there’s even a right order to go about it.
The introduction of social media has caused a change how viral marketing is used and the speed at which information is spread and users interact.[35] This has prompted many companies to use social media as a way to market themselves and their products, with Elsamari Botha and Mignon Reyneke stating that viral messages are "playing an increasingly important role in influencing and shifting public opinion on corporate reputations, brands, and products as well as political parties and public personalities to name but a few."[35]